Lawmakers weigh new data on teacher salaries

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Washington lawmakers have received additional data as they work to come up with recommendations for a school funding plan ahead of the next legislative session that begins in January.

The latest update received Tuesday by the Education Funding Task Force was a report that showed that Washington school districts on average use local property taxes to pay each teacher nearly $14,000 over and above what the state provides for salaries, The Seattle Times reports.

Lawmakers are working to comply with a 2012 state Supreme Court ruling that they must fully fund the state's basic education system. Lawmakers have already put more than $2 billion toward the issue since the ruling, but the biggest piece remaining of the court order is figuring out how much the state must provide for teacher salaries.

School districts currently pay a substantial chunk of those salaries with local property-tax levies.

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Associated Press